"I'm very, very disappointed in the governor's decision," said state Sen. Michael Doherty, R-Warren/Hunterdon, who is a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

"It's tragic on so many levels," he added.

In Christie's fiscal year 2012 budget proposal, he called for one of New Jersey's five psychiatric facilities to close, saving the state an estimated $9 million per year. The Legislature approved a budget Wednesday for the fiscal year that began Friday.

It was not immediately clear what would become of the 600-acre facility.

Closing Hagedorn or Trenton Psychiatric Hospital was the recommendation of